Basanti pulao recipe or the Bengali mishit pulao recipe is easy and gets ready really quickly. No Bengali Festival is ever complete with a side of this basanti pulao.
Basanti pulao get’s its name from its humble yellow color. Basanti pulao or the Bengali Mishti pulao recipe is a household favourite in our family. No pujo or onushthan (celebration) is complete without some kind of pulao and Basanti pulao happens to be the easiest and most popular.
You will find this basanti pulau in any Bengali puja bhog. This is a pulau that has a mild sweet after-taste. My grandma used to make the best pulau and payesh. But this one is my quick and easy Bengali mishit pulao recipe. In this recipe you neither need to temper oil or ghee with spices nor have to take any headache about rice becoming too soft and not fluffy.
What is Basanti Pulao?
This pulao essentially gets its name from its bright (yellow) basanti colour. I use the humble turmeric powder for this recipe. You can use kesar, that will add a nice flavor too. I would suggest you to avoid food colouring here. I know loads of restaurants use yellow food coloring for this. But if you get the result from the humble turmeric, then why not!
This pulao is traditionally made with gobindobhog rice – a short grain fragrant rice that is widely popular in Bengal. It’s mostly used for pujor bhog – you can guess that from the name. But you can make it with your regular rice too – it will turn out equally good.
Pro Tip: If you want a fluffy pulao wash rice in advance and dry it in air!
There you go, I gave you the best tip you can get for that “jhorjhore” (non sticky) pulao rice.
How can I get non-sticky rice for Basanti Pulao?
#1 Wash rice in advance
For any pulao or fried rice preparation, wash the rice grains in ample water – two or three times. It takes out the excess starch which and as a consequence rice will turn out non sticky.
#2 Air Dry
You can also air dry it for 10-15 mins after washing. Drier the grain, fluffier the rice.
#3 Measure your rice and water
If you can maintain the ratio of rice and water then nothing can make your rice sticky. The ratio of rice to water for this Bengali Mishti Pulao Recipe is 1:2. Which means if you take 1 cup rice, add 2 cups of water.
In this Basanti Pulao recipe I am using 2 and ½ cups of rice, so I will be using 5 cups of water.
How to Make Basanti Pulao?
Ingredients
Rice - 2 ½ cups
Hot water - 5 cups
Bay leaf - 3
Green Cardamom - 2
Clove - 3
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Ginger, chopped - ½ inch
Turmeric - ½ teaspoon
Ghee - 4+1 table spoon
Cashew nut split - 10-12
Raisins - 10-12
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 4 teaspoons
Green chili - 2 slit
Garam masala - 1 teaspoon
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash rice in ample water and air dry it for 15 mins
- In a mixing bowl pour the air-dried rice, whole spices, 4 tbsp ghee, chopped ginger and mix well with hands
- Leave it for 10 minutes.
- In a wok/ kadhai heat the remaining 1 tablespoon ghee
- Fry the split cashew till light golden.
- Remove the cashew in a bowl
- In the same wok, add the rice mix and saute well
- The more you saute rice at this moment the better the pulao will be
- Saute for 6 minutes in medium to low flame
- Add boiling water to it, and salt to taste.
- cover and cook in lowest flame possible for 10 minutes
- Open the lid and when the rice is still little firm add the sugar.
- Use folding method to mix rice (else rice grains will break)
- Add the slit chili in standing position in the rice. - this will just give the fragrance without making it spicy
- Cover and cook for another 10 mins in the lowest flame possible
- Turn off flame and keep it covered for 1 min if rice looks lil wet.
Notes
You can squeeze 1/4th lemon at the end to make the rice fluffy You can keep this prepared earlier - pulao tastes better when made lil earlier Serve it at room temperature
How to Serve Basanti Pulao?
Basanti pulao can be served with any kind of side dish like chanar dalna, chingri malaikari, alur dom, doi potol, or any chicken or mutton dishes. It goes well with vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian preparations.
I am taking part in #AtoZChallenge & #BlogchatterAtoZ where I am sharing 26 Aunthentic Bengali Recipes from my Mom’s Kitchen throughout April. Follow me and enjoy the Bengali food Festival here.
Here’s what I am Posting this April for #AtoZChallenge
A – Aamer Chutney
12 comments
This is a quick recipe that is sure to be delicious too. Thanks for sharing.
It’s been a year since I started cooking seriously, and now I think of the times I could have learned things from my mum. So I have definitely bookmarked this site, and I intend to do a bit of justice to my Bong parentage with respect to cooking. Shall keep an eye on other recipes you post as well. 🙂
Basanti pulao is so similar to Kesari bhaat made in Maharashtra, We generally make it on Basant Panchami and Diwali.
It’s been a long I had not cooked, thanks for sharing your recipe, will try your recipe this time.
Hearing of this pulao for the first time – what an interesting name! Got to try it out!
Yummy…
Oh this one is going to be great! I love Indian food and I had a Burmese roommate in grad school so I am familiar with some of this.
Really looking forward to seeing what you do here.
Being a big foodie, I find discovering your blog a matter of delight, Tina. I am a big fan of rice dishes. Have been cooking Basanti Pulao but with a little variation. I don’t normally mix all the spices and ghee in rice in a separate bowl. Will try this method soon. And yes, air-drying the rice seems to be a great tip.
This looks so yum Tina am surely trying it out Tina. Look forward to more
[…] like how you will always find a Basanti Pulao in a Bengali celebration the “biye barir” (wedding ceremony) menu is incomplete without Chingri […]
This looks super yum, Tina! I loved the color and I can smell the dry fruits here 🙂
Neat! I never knew about washing rice first. Great tip. This sounds tasty.
It’s hard to believe the alphabet part of the blogging challenge is over for 2021. Down to the after survey, reflections, and the “road trip” sign-up.
Plus, I’m taking part in the Bout of Books read-a-thon in May. So much excitement!
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author
[…] you eat Bengali basanti pulao, you feel like you’re part of the vibrant Bengali celebrations. It’s a dish that brings […]